Pope Francis receives former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff

Pope Francis received this Saturday in a special audience at the Vatican former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, the current president of the BRICS development bank, a bloc originally formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which was joined by several other countries in January. developing countries. At the end of the audience, Francisco said goodbye to Dilma, saying, “Pray for me, and I will pray for you,” to which she replied, “I pray.”

In a meeting in which they both spoke in Portuguese and Spanish, the Supreme Pontiff and former Brazilian president was removed from office midway through her second term in 2016 in a maneuver engineered by her then-vice president, Michel Temer, who succeeded her. both talked about international affairs and relations between them. Dilma was the first head of state to receive Francisco during his 2013 trip to Brazil after he became pope, and the leader of the Catholic Church received her this Saturday with a broad smile and the phrase: “Welcome, what a pleasure we will see you again.”

According to Dilma, who currently lives in Shanghai, the city in China where the bank she runs is located, she and the Pope discussed some of humanity’s biggest current challenges. Among them, he highlighted the fight against hunger and inequality, the energy transition and the measures needed to combat climate change.

The former ruler, the first woman elected head of state in Brazil in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, gave the Pope a book by writer Ademir Pereira dos Santos, “Teodoro Sampaio – Nos sertões e na Cidade,” and Francisco reciprocated. the encyclical “Laudato si”, the apostolic exhortation “Laudate Deum” and a bronze sculpture. Francisco explained to Dilma that the works he offered her advocated that looking down on a person is only permissible in order to help him stand up.